diff --git a/src/beaver_gateway/agents/claude.py b/src/beaver_gateway/agents/claude.py
index 3e4a782..12ae427 100644
--- a/src/beaver_gateway/agents/claude.py
+++ b/src/beaver_gateway/agents/claude.py
@@ -153,9 +153,14 @@ class ClaudeCodeOptions(BaseModel):
     caveats) as ``UserMessage`` events. Off by default — they're not
     part of the real conversation."""
 
-    startup_delay: float = 1.0
-    """Seconds to wait after spawning the PTY before the first
-    write — claude's TUI takes a beat to settle."""
+    startup_delay: float = 10.0
+    """Upper bound (seconds) on waiting for claude's TUI to enable
+    bracketed-paste mode after spawn. claude-code-api polls PTY output
+    for the DECSET 2004 marker and returns as soon as it arrives; this
+    caps how long to wait if it never does. 10s by default is a free
+    headroom — on a fast host the marker arrives in well under a second
+    and we proceed immediately — but it saves slow hosts (Raspberry Pi
+    etc) where the TUI can take a few seconds to render."""
 
     file_wait_timeout: float = 30.0
     """How long to wait for the session JSONL to appear after spawn.